Crossed table or chair legs are customarily secured to each other by means of a bolt, pin or screw passing through each leg usually at the center of the intersection of the legs. Sometimes the joint is strengthened by means of glue or adhesive applied between the contacting surfaces of the crossed legs. It is also common to remove a portion of each leg at the point of intersection so as to form matching portions of half-thickness so that the legs may then be joined by bringing the matching "notches" together resulting in the surfaces of the crossed legs lying in a common plane or being "flush". Permanence in such half-lap joints may be obtained by mechanical fasterners or adhesives as noted hereinabove.
Crossed legs or support members may also be formed by providing one leg or member as a complete and integral unit, the other leg being formed of two substantially identical members which abut the unitary leg member or either side thereof to form, in appearance at least, a pair of crossed legs. The abutting surfaces in this arrangement are usually secured to each other by means of adhesive. It has also been common to utilize a flat retainer or gusset plate member which is affixed to the "flush" or planar surfaces of the legs to reinforce the joinder thereof as shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,048,566 to Miller and 3,803,794 to Luckey.
While the prior art techniques for providing crossed support members or legs for chairs and tables and the like may be satisfactory for some purposes, they nevertheless often lack the requisite strength to support massive tables or weighty objects without the use of special strengtheners (i.e., gusset plates) or other mechanical means (i.e., bolts or screws) which detract from the desired pleasing appearance of the crossed legs and still may be limited in the extent to which they reinforce such crossed leg structures.